The Etymology of 14 More Strange English Idioms(#140)

I’ve gone on a whole journey to decide what today’s episode is going to be. It was going to be about the history of consumerism in humans, and how it’s become second nature to us to accumulate more and more stuff. But when I started researching it, I realised my brain doesn’t have the capacity to research it all in just a few hours (which is all the time I had to research this episode), and it definitely needs longer — so I’ll be holding off on that one until I have more time to research it.

I was then going to do it about interactive TV, based on my university dissertation, because it’s still a topic I love — however, I realised some of the research might be a bit outdated now because I wrote my dissertation in 2015, so it’ll take some work to do more research for the years since then, considering it’s a topic that’s always evolving as technology evolves.

So today, I’ve picked a really fun and simple one that my puny brain can handle after a busy week, and one that people seem to really enjoy on this podcast and always does well: I’m going to do another etymology episode. Specifically, I’m going to talk about the origins of some weird English phrases and idioms, I guess almost like a continuation of your last episode that you did in August.

Not enough room to swing a cat

Let’s start with a pretty simple one, but one that sounds funny if you take it literally and don’t know its origin: “not enough room to swing a cat”. This is a phrase meaning very little space, and I’ve mostly heard it used when talking about rooms in a house being small — like, “god, there’s not enough room to swing a cat!”

I always wondered why people would want to swing a cat. But Dictionary.com explains that this expression, first recorded in 1771, is thought to allude to the cat-o'-nine-tails, a whip with nine lashes widely used to punish offenders in the British military.

Another website, Grammar Monsters, says the same thing too: “This saying derives from the 16th Century, when sailors were punished by being whipped with a cat o' nine tails. Below deck, there was no room to yield the whip, so the punishment was administered on deck, which afforded sufficient room to swing the cat.

Wouldn’t say boo to a goose

Another animal-related phrase, but this time, it’s not a cat but a goose. The phrase “wouldn’t say boo a goose” generally means you’re calling someone a bit of a wimp; they’d be too afraid to even say boo to a goose.

One person on the website The Phrase Finder said: “It's just a country proverb, perfectly clear to anyone who is familiar with geese, as in earlier centuries virtually all rural European people would have been. Anybody who shouts loudly and firmly at geese can intimidate them. Anybody who doesn't dare say "Boo!" to a goose really is a wimp.”

But the entry for this phrase on the Online Etymology Dictionary goes a bit further, explaining it in context with the etymology for the word ‘boo’ itself: “early 15c., boh, “A combination of consonant and vowel especially fitted to produce a loud and startling sound”, which could also be compared to similar Latin and Greek words meaning “to cry aloud, roar, shout”; as an expression of disapproval.”

So for the phrase “say boo to a goose”, the Online Etymology Dictionary quotes Walter W. Skeat, who wrote in 1870: “To be able to say Bo! to a goose is to be not quite destitute of courage, to have an inkling of spirit, and was probably in the first instance used of children. A little boy who comes across some geese suddenly will find himself hissed at immediately, and a great demonstration of defiance made by them, but if he can pluck up heart to cry 'bo!' loudly and advance upon them, they will retire defeated. The word 'bo' is clearly selected for the sake of the explosiveness of its first letter and the openness and loudness of its vowel.

To a T

Now we’ve got one a little more complicated: the phrase “to a T”. This means something is perfect or precise; for example, if something is said to fit 'to a T' it fits exactly; properly; precisely. The expression 'to a T' can also form other phrases: 'down to a T', 'suits to a T', 'fits to a T', 'generous to a T' etc.

The original form 'to a T' is an old phrase and possibly the earliest citation is in James Wright's satire The Humours and Conversations of the Town, from 1693: “All the under Villages and Towns-men come to him for Redress; which he does to a T.”

It’s difficult to determine the origin of the phrase, and it could differ depending on whether the phrase is just the letter T, or the word ‘tee’. Let’s say it’s the word ‘tee’, which in a sporting context, particularly in curling, the tee is the precise centre of the circle which players aim their curling stones. But really, there’s no evidence to suggest this is where the phrase originated from, and the actual spelling of ‘to a tee’ wasn’t recorded until 1771, 80 years after the phrase with just the letter T. So some say it’s safe to assume the phrase is actually the letter ‘T’ and not the word ‘tee’.

So what was meant by the letter T? Could the letter T be a derivation of a full word? If so, it’s very likely that this word could be ‘tittle’. A tittle is a small stroke or point in writing or printing. The best reason for believing that this is the source of the 'T' is that the phrase 'to a tittle' existed in English well before 'to a T', with the same meaning; for example, it appears in Francis Beaumont's Jacobean comedy drama The Woman Hater from 1607.

Someone else in the comments of the article I read about this brought up another argument, that is could also mean “to a triumph”, which is seen in Thomas Hardy’s Return of the Native: “The only way to look queenly without realms or hearts to queen it over is to look as if you had lost them; and Eustacia did that to a triumph.” However, this wasn’t published until 1878, which wouldn’t explain the phrase ‘to a T’ appearing as early as the 1690s, and the fact that ‘to a tittle’ appeared in 1607 makes that one still seem more likely.

So, all of that to say, the phrase ‘to a T’ most likely came from ‘to a tittle’.

Kick the bucket

The next phrase is one slightly more miserable, and that’s “to kick the bucket”, meaning to die. Trigger warning for suicide and animal death. One theory, albeit with little evidence to support it, is that the phrase originates from the notion that people hanged themselves by standing on a bucket with a noose around their neck and then kicking the bucket away. However, there are no citations that relate the phrase to suicide and, in any case, why a bucket when there are other options, like a chair, a stool, or anything else you can stand on?

Another option which could be more accurate is that in 16th century Norfolk (and even to this day), a bucket is the name for a beam or yoke (a wooden bar spelt ‘yoke’, not ‘yolk’ like an egg yolk) used to hang or carry items. The term may have been introduced into English from the French trébuchet - meaning a balance, or buque - meaning a yoke.

So in terms of ‘kick the bucket’, the word ‘bucket’ refers to the wooden frame used to hang animals like pigs up by their feet for slaughter, and when they were killed, they would spasm and their feet would literally kick the bucket. So… as I said, not a very nice one.

Bite the dust

Another death-related one, and then I’ll move on to ones that are less morbid. This one, at least, isn’t to do with dying animals: it’s the phrase “bite the dust”. This phrase is usually used to describe a fall to the ground or someone’s death and is more commonly associated with the death of a soldier in battle.

An earlier version of this phrase was “lick the dust” and came from the Bible, where there are several uses of it, way back in 1611: “They that dwell in the wilderness shall bow before him and his enemies shall lick the dust.”

The earliest citation of “bite the dust” is from 1750 by author Tobias Smollett, in his book Adventures of Gil Blas of Santillane: “We made two of them bite the dust, and the others betake themselves to flight.”

But possibly the earliest appearance of this phrase goes way back to Homer's Iliad, written in around 700 BC. It was translated into English in the 19th century by Samuel Butler and his version contains a reference to 'bite the dust' in these lines: “Grant that my sword may pierce the shirt of Hector about his heart, and that many of his comrades may bite the dust as they fall dying round him.” But whether that can be counted as an 8th century BC origin for “bite the dust” is open to debate, and some would say that it was Butler's use of the phrase in his translation rather than Homer’s.

Bob’s your uncle

“Bob's your uncle” is a British expression that is actually quite hard to define, but it kind of means “there you have it!”, to conclude a set of simple instructions, similar to “et voila!” in French — for example, “Just complete the form, pay the fee, and Bob's your uncle!”

The origins are uncertain, but a common theory is that the Bob in question is Robert Arthur Talbot Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury. The Marquess appointed his nephew Arthur Balfour as Chief Secretary for Ireland in 1887, as well as other political posts, which seemed to be acts of nepotism. Balfour went on to become Prime Minister after his uncle, despite apparently showing no prior interest in public work. It is unlikely that Arthur Balfour would ever have become a celebrated politician without the influence of his uncle Robert, which we could shorten to Bob, giving us the phrase “Bob’s your uncle.”

Barking up the wrong tree

The phrase “barking up the wrong tree” is used to describe when someone is trying to achieve something but they're doing it in the wrong way, or they are trying to get something but they will not be successful. For example, “if you’re trying to get any money from me then you’re barking up the wrong tree because I have none.”

The origin of the idiom 'barking up the wrong tree' dates back to early 1800s America, when hunting with packs of dogs was popular. The term was used literally at first, when wild prey animals such as raccoons would trick dogs into believing they were up a certain tree when in fact they had escaped. Thus, dogs barking at the base of an empty tree were said to be “barking up the wrong tree.” So… this one’s pretty self-explanatory, really!

Wild goose chase

A wild goose chase is a hopeless pursuit or foolish search after something that is in fact, pointless or unattainable. It’s usually frustrating and ends up wasting time. For example, “After two hours spent wandering in the snow, they realised they were just on a wild goose chase.”

The idiom wild goose chase was first written by Shakespeare in Romeo and Juliet in 1595. Interestingly, the term wild goose chase was first used to mean a type of horse race. In a wild goose chase horse race, the lead rider galloped across the open countryside in an erratic pattern. Subsequent riders were to follow at different intervals and had to follow the exact pattern of the lead rider. The idea is of geese flying in formation, following one leader. The exact rules of a wild goose chase are unclear, but it seems reasonable to assume the object is to overtake the leader.

This meaning had been lost by the 19th century. In an 1811 dictionary, the phrase was defined pretty much in the same way we define it today: “A tedious uncertain pursuit, like the following a flock of wild geese, who are remarkably shy.”

Walking on eggshells

“Walking on eggshells” means to behave in a cautious manner — maybe to avoid upsetting or offending someone, or just generally if someone is acting very cautiously, you can say they’re walking on eggshells. The obvious meaning of the phrase is that eggshells are dainty and easily breakable, so by walking on them, it won’t take much to break them. The phrase came into use in the 1800s and was preceded by the phrase walking on eggs, which came into use in the 1700s.

In an article on the website Grammarphobia, someone asked: “I was born in 1942 and grew up with the expression “walking on eggs.” During the last 30 years or so, I only hear “walking on eggshells.” Has this expression morphed from “eggs” to “eggshells”?”

The article responds: “In its first incarnation, the expression involved the whole egg, not just the shell. The original, 18th-century version was to “tread on eggs,” which the Oxford English Dictionary defines as “to walk warily, as on delicate ground. The only two citations for the whole-egg version in the Online Etymology Dictionary are from the same author, Roger North, and appear in works he published around 1734.

“The eggshell version showed up more than a century later, and has more examples cited. The earliest citation given is from Wilkie Collins’s suspense novel The Woman in White (1860), and there’s another citation from the 1930s. In answer to the question, the expression does seem to have morphed. The eggshell version (whether one treads or walks on them) is by far the more popular form today.”

Cut to the chase

“Cut to the chase” means to get to the point and leave out unnecessary details or preamble. The phrase originated in the US film industry. Many early silent films ended in chase sequences preceded by obligatory romantic storylines. The first reference to it dates back to that era, just after the first 'talkie' (The Jazz Singer, 1927), when the phrase was written in Joseph Patrick McEvoy’s 1929 novel Hollywood Girl as a script direction: “Jannings escapes… Cut to chase.”

Cutting to the chase in a movie would mean transitioning straight to the chasing sequence. During this time, some people might have viewed the chasing sequence as the “main part” of the film. Thus, while watching a movie at the cinema, bored and impatient viewers might have thought or even shouted “cut to the chase,” as they wanted to see the “main part” of the film, the exciting action part.

It didn’t appear again in print for some years and we can be fairly sure that McEvoy wasn't the source of the figurative use of the phrase as we now know it — it literally meant ‘cut to the chase sequence’. The figurative use that we know to mean “get to the point” emerged in the 1940s. In 1944, The Winnipeg Free Press ran an article about screenwriting that included this: “Miss [Helen] Deutsch has another motto, which had to do with the writing of cinematic drama. It also is on the wall where she can't miss seeing it, and it says: "When in doubt, cut to the chase.”

This does imply getting to the point but still isn't quite the current meaning, as it still relates specifically to film chases. The more general usage comes soon afterwards, for example, in this piece from a New England newspaper in 1947: “Let's cut to the chase. There will be no tax relief this year.”

So although the phrase has stayed the same for the last 100 years or so, the meaning has slightly generalised over time to become an idiom for “get straight to the point”, rather than literally meaning “cut to the scene in which the chase sequence begins”.

Caught red handed

The expression “caught red handed” has its origins in Scotland around the 15th century. Given how it was used in the earliest references, the phrase “red hand” or “redhand” probably referred to people caught with blood on their hands from murder or poaching.

The first documented mention of “red hand” is in the Scottish Acts of Parliament of James I, written in 1432. It subsequently popped up numerous times in various legal proceedings in Scotland, nearly always referring to someone caught in the act of committing some crime, such as “apprehended redhand” or “taken with redhand."

The first documented instance of the expression morphing from “red hand” to “red handed” was in the early 19th century work Ivanhoe, written by Sir Walter Scott: “I did but tie one fellow, who was taken redhanded and in the fact, to the horns of a wild stag.” This usage popularised the phrase “redhanded” throughout the English speaking world. The whole phrase "caught red handed” made its debut in Guy Livingstone, written in 1857 by George Alfred Lawrence.

Spill the beans

The phrase “spill the beans” means to let go of a secret, or share some sort of gossip — for example, if you’re trying to get some information out of someone, you could say, “come on, spill the beans!” or “he accidentally spilled the beans about the surprise party.”

There are a few possible explanations for where “spill the beans” came from. One explanation dates back to ancient Greece when people would use beans to vote anonymously. White beans were used for positive votes, and black beans or other dark-coloured ones were used for negative votes. These votes were cast in secret, so if someone knocked over the beans in the jar—whether by accident or intentionally—they “spilled the beans” and revealed the results of the votes prematurely.

This is a cool theory and is plausible, except for the fact that the phrase wasn’t actually recorded officially until the 20th century. But 'spill' has actually been used as a verb with the meaning of 'divulge' or 'let out' since at least the 16th century, with the phrase being used in a piece of literature written in 1574.

So in terms of the whole phrase, “spill the beans”, the earliest known example of the phrase actually being recorded is in the United States in 1908, in the The Stevens Point Journal. In this piece, the phrase was still used as if to reference the original ancient Greek voting system, which does give more credence to that theory.

Another instance was found in October 1911 in The Van Wert Daily Bulletin, which talks about a member of the President’s cabinet being called to the front of some sort of proceedings in order to “spill the beans”.

Get the wrong end of the stick

The phrase “to get the wrong end of the stick” means to misunderstand something, or to interpret something the wrong way. An older meaning of this phrase means to get the bad end of a bargain or come away with the worse side of the deal — which actually is close to an idiom we still commonly use today, “to get the short end of the stick”, which is very similar (and I’ve only just realised how these phrases are only different by one word, but today, and maybe not to everyone, they have completely different meanings).

Both these idioms have their roots in the idiom from the 1500s, “get the worse end of the staff”. There are many theories as to the origin — some believe they relate to a master thrashing his servant with a stick, in which case the servant gets the wrong end of the stick. Others believe that the expressions come from the fact that since Roman times, people have washed themselves with a sponge on a stick in the outhouse, and it can be easy to grab the wrong end of the stick and get the gross, dirty side.

In another article, someone asked: “An article in the Irish Times recently gave examples of words and phrases associated with the printing trade that have found their way into everyday English language usage. I’m unsure about the writer’s explanation of “getting the wrong end of the stick” as being linked to printing. Do you agree with it?”

The article answers: “The writer based his suggestion for the origin of getting the wrong end of the stick on the ancient sense of stick — an abbreviation of composing-stick — for the hand-held device a typesetter used for composing text from individual letters. This story has often been retold, with the explanation that if a compositor set type in the stick incorrectly he got the wrong end of the stick. It is certainly incorrect, not least because you had to be an extremely incompetent typesetter to hold the composing stick wrongly.

“Other suggestions have been made. A common one is that it refers to a walking stick. The bottom end would often become coated with mud and other dirt so that to get hold of the stick by the wrong end would be a messy error.

“The pioneering philologist Walter Skeat suggested in 1895 that the source was a master beating his servant: “The right end of the stick was that held in the master’s hand, whilst the other was the wrong end. The servant would naturally “get the wrong end of the stick.””

There are other versions of the phrase, or the earlier phrase “wrong end of the staff”, recorded as early as the mid-1600s. None of these arguments are conclusive, and it’s hard to tell what the actual origin of this one is and when the meaning started to change from getting the bad end of a bargain to misunderstanding someone’s point. It’s hard to even find many people explaining the variation that means to misunderstand something, because most things take the meaning as the bad end of a bargain, or to be on the unfortunate receiving end of something. So this one’s still a bit of an enigma!

Steal someone’s thunder

Finally, we’ve got the phrase “to steal someone’s thunder”, which means to use someone else’s ideas to their advantage, or just to take the glory away from someone else. The phrase is well-known, but its origins are less so. And to delve into the history of this now common phrase, we need to go into the theatre.

A website called Interesting Literature explains that the world of the theatre has left its mark upon the English language in all sorts of ways. We all know that Shakespeare coined or popularised a lot of expressions we use today. But even the mechanics of the theatre as a physical space used for performance has had an impact on the everyday, non-theatrical language we use.

Thespis, the ancient Greek who often gets the credit for inventing the idea of the actor, gave us the word ‘thespian’; the word ‘background’ originally denoted the part of the stage furthest from the audience, before it was applied to things outside of the theatre; ‘scenario’ originally denoted the front of a classical theatre; and, perhaps most surprisingly, the word ‘explode’, now more commonly used about bombs than theatregoers, originated as a term for the sound made by audiences who clapped or booed.

We still talk about being ‘in the limelight’, which comes from the days when theatres were lit by a white light produced by heating lime in an oxyhydrogen flame. This light was shone on the actors, so they were literally ‘in the limelight’.

Which brings us to ‘steal one’s thunder’ and the figurative meaning of this phrase. The idiom comes from the dramatist John Dennis (1658-1734), who created an innovative thunder machine for his 1709 play Appius and Virginia. The play was a flop, and quickly withdrawn. A performance of Shakespeare’s Macbeth was put on instead, and the theatre company used Dennis’s thunder techniques without his permission.

When Dennis found out about this, he was understandably not happy, and his response has been quoted in two different ways depending on the source, either by a scholar in the 1700s as, “That is my thunder by God; the villains will play my thunder, but not my plays," and quoted again in 1893 as, “Damn them! They will not let my play run, but they steal my thunder." Whichever quote is correct, he’s still credited with coining the phrase “steal my thunder”. And, like many phrases, over the years it’s generalised to mean stealing credit for something, or taking away someone’s big moment.